Thirty-five people were killed and 43 injured after a car drove into a crowd Monday evening in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, local police said Tuesday.
Authorities had reported such an incident as early as Monday, but police then only reported injuries, and videos were later removed from social media.
On Tuesday, police now announced that a “serious and vicious attack” took place at the Zhuahai Sports Center, leaving 35 people dead and 43 injured.
The driver, a 62-year-old man, “forced entry at the wheel of a small SUV and drove into the city’s sports center, knocking down people who were training in the interior aisles,” said the police in a press release.
The driver, named Fan, was arrested while he was stabbing himself with a knife “and was sent to hospital for treatment,” according to the same source.
He is in a coma after injuring his neck and “is not in a condition to be questioned”, the police added.
Chinese President Xi Jinping asked that “everything necessary” be done to treat the injured, and wanted the perpetrator to be “punished in accordance with the law”.
The most important Chinese civil and military air show is currently taking place in the same city.
